Table of Contents

We walked down the stone steps hand in hand. We had
just reached the first turn in them when Billy came from the
other direction at speed, almost knocking us over.
“Take it easy,” Steff said, frowning a little. Maybe, in her
mind, she was seeing him skidding into that deadly nest of
live wires instead of the two of us.
“You gotta come see!” Billy panted. “The boathouse is all
bashed! There’s a dock on the rocks ... and trees in the
boat cove ... Jesus Christ!”
“Billy Drayton!” Steff thundered.
“Sorry, Ma—but you gotta—wow!” He was gone again.
“Having spoken, the doomsayer departs,” I said, and that
made Steff giggle again. “Listen, after I cut up those trees
across the driveway, I’ll go by the Central Maine Power
office on Portland Road. Tell them what we got. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said gratefully. “When do you think you can
go?”
Except for the big tree—the one with the moldy corset of
moss—it would have been an hour’s work. With the big one
added in, I didn’t think the job would be done until eleven or
so.
“I’ll give you lunch here, then. But you’ll have to get some
things at the market for me ... we’re almost out of milk and
butter. Also ... well, I’ll have to make you a list.”
Give a woman a disaster and she turns squirrel. I gave
her a hug and nodded. We went on around the house. It
didn’t take more than a glance to understand why Billy had
been a little overwhelmed.
“Lordy,” Steff said in a faint voice.